The year is 1883. Eduard van De Lier is a Dutchman overseeing a spice plantation on the island of Java, in the South Pacific. His obsessive attraction to dark-skinned men is just one of his many secrets. His wife Marien knows of his indiscretions, but as she's content with their Colonial lifestyle, she stays silent. Until a former lover of Eduard's shows up in their parlor with thoughts of blackmail. Reza was a crewman on the ship that brought the van De Liers to Java. During the passage, Eduard spent many a night in the younger man's arms. Two years have passed, and the last person Eduard expects to find in his drawing room is Reza, a letter in hand that could destroy the life he and Marien lead. Seeing him again ignites Eduard's lust for his first dark lover. He hopes to retrieve the letter, either through seduction or subterfuge, and the longer Reza eludes him, the more his desire grows. But they're on shaky ground, and before things can heat up between them, their world explodes -- literally -- when the unstable island of Krakatoa erupts.

All Shook Up

As I’m looking around, I notice little things that solidify this place in the here and now—a church bulletin tacked to the corkboard by the wall phone, a brand new coffee maker, a small stack of mail on the kitchen table. I leaf through the letters, nothing but bills, and for the first time wonder just what I thought I’d find here. The nostalgia is a given, but what are my parents like now? Would I know them? Would they recognize me? I should go, just turn around and drive back home, back to Timothy and the office and whatever life I’ve managed to create for myself in the time I’ve been away. I don’t want to see my parents as old people. I don’t want to see my brother again.


Chapter 11